


Handle of Things: Part II

by OiBoiHumerus



Series: OiBoiHumerus's TF2 Zombie Apocalypse AU [3]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Autistic Character, Blood and Gore, Content warnings are in the Google Doc as usual, Hurt/Comfort, I guess that's right, M/M, See Part I for more details, Slow Burn, Violence, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28037154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OiBoiHumerus/pseuds/OiBoiHumerus
Summary: It's an apocalypse. And the mercenaries no longer have the comfort and safety of their bases or their infinite resources.Will the cookie crumble? (mmm cookies)
Relationships: Engineer/Sniper (Team Fortress 2)
Series: OiBoiHumerus's TF2 Zombie Apocalypse AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030614
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14





	1. Professional

**Author's Note:**

> **Content warning link again:**   
>  [ "Handle of Things" by OiBoiHumerus on Google Docs (Content Warnings/Editing Stage Edition) ](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C2g49psNeihtXzIjOr6vxpa9C8NJVJlI8KlmVDo9lUg/edit#heading=h.dpd629qki0lw)
> 
> Please be sure to check out [ for notes on how I wrote this work. I know it says "How to read this work," but you don't necessarily need the word definitions to read the work, rather to understand why Part II Chapter 2's title is going to be Spycrab. Happy reading! :)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27307648/chapters/66720019>)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **professional**  
>  _adj._ 1\. of or engaged in a profession  
> 2\. engaged in some sport or in a specified occupation for pay  
>  _n._ a person who is professional

An hour on the road. An hour of silence.

Sixty whole minutes of a focused tension that aired through the van.

Outside of his work, and even in his work at times, Sniper was not a man of many words. At team gatherings, he would be the one to slink off to the side, not saying much of anything. He was even more secluded than Spy, in that respect.

Engie was used to Sniper being quiet around others. He was not, however, used to Sniper being quiet when it was just the two of them. Sniper would usually open up to Engie, but now he was silent, having not spoken a single word since they left the RED Base.

That alone concerned Engie, making the silence a little bit nerve-wracking. He couldn't stand it for that long.

"You're handling this a bit too well, Sniper."

"We're still mercenaries, and we still have jobs to do. Right now, our job is making sure we survive."

"Yeah, I'm just worried, considering that you had just gotten adjusted to everything and yet you're willing to adapt to short-notice changes on the fly."

"I have to. Professionals are adaptable. I learned that the hard way. Every time the BLU Spy, Peeker, I think, always finds out how to get to where I am, he startles me  _ and he startles me bad _ . So I panic and I throw some slashes at him and hope that he goes away. Sometimes it works, other times I take a trip through respawn. I was getting sick of it and wanted it to stop. So first I switched nests. Then I kept switching nests. And now I don't even have a nest at all, and I have to be aware of my surroundings all the time."

"You do seem to be pretty adaptable."

"It's exhausting, Truckie," Sniper mumbled, looking upset.

"Then why do you keep doing it?"

"Because it's my job," Sniper said, his voice slightly wavering. "The team gets paid less if I don't do my job. People get mad at me if I don't do my job. My job is something that I'm good at, so it's what I do."

Engie took some time to think about what Sniper was saying. Constantly having to adapt to things without prior notice easily wore Sniper out, draining him. No wonder he wouldn't-- no,  _ couldn't _ be very social. He had no capacity for it. He was too burnt out.

"Peeker used to make my job more interesting. But now he's making it difficult."

Engie found himself in a tough spot. He'd brought up something that was a bit touchy for Sniper, and now there was another awkward, darker silence.

And that's when they stumbled upon a rest stop in the thruway that they didn't have to pay for because it's an apocalypse.

Sniper pulled into the rest stop, parking the van at its gas station.

"You should probably wait in the van," Sniper said. "Wouldn't want ya goin' in there by yourself."

"Alright."

Sniper hopped out of the van to go fill the tank, not far from the passenger side of the car.

Engie opened the window and poked his head out.

"I'm sorry that I kept asking you questions. I didn't know you'd get upset."

"It's okay. I enjoy talking to you, we were just approaching touchy territory."

"Alright. I won't talk about that anymore."

"Nah, it's fine. I needed to get it out. I'm glad that someone knows, now."

"…You look beat. Do you trust me to drive the van?"

"It's like driving a giant box. You think you can handle it?"

"I once drove my truck back to base, the back stacked a foot higher than the roof full of intelligence. I'm sure it's fine."

Sniper started to think for a minute, but was abruptly interrupted by the pump stopping, letting him know the tank was full.

"Okay. You can drive."

Engie scooted over into the driver's seat. Surprisingly, he didn't have to adjust the steering wheel at all, realizing that Sniper was just  _ more legs _ than him as he got into the passenger's side next to him.

"Wait, we should get supplies while we're here," Engie said. "I don't think anyone bothers to take the thruway during an apocalypse."

"Okay."

Sniper began to unmount his rifle that was stuck to the wall, but Engie stopped him.

"That thing's noisy as hell. Bring your kukri, but unless you've got a quieter gun… well, don't bring a gun."

"I have some kind of an SMG with a muffler in the camper. If that helps."

"Yeah, that helps." Engie grabbed his pistol from his pocket. "I'll cover ya."

Engie slipped out of the van, then dashed around the front to meet Sniper on the other side. Sniper grabbed his kukri from behind the driver's seat and met up with Engie outside the van.

They snuck around the back, and Sniper unlocked the camper. They headed inside.

Sniper opened one of the storage compartments built into the bottom of the couch and took out his muffled SMG, a Mann Co. Cleaner's Carbine.

Sniper busied himself with finding a few cartridges for it while Engie glanced around the van.

"It's very cozy in here," Engie said. "Did you do something to your camper?"

Sniper sat on the couch for a minute while loading the cartridge into his MC3. "Well, I found a bunch of old photos while I had finally gotten around to cleaning my quarters, so I thought I'd just tape them up."

Engie glanced at the photos briefly. "I guess you can take more than one kind of shot then, huh?

Sniper hummed in response, running his finger along the side of his MC3. "Wanna get going?"

"Yeah, we oughta. C'mon, Sniper."

Now sufficiently armed, Sniper and Engie left the van, and Sniper locked it. Then they walked over to the rest stop. Sniper grabbed the door and leaned back. The door did not open.

"Locked," Sniper stated.

"I got it. Cover me."

Sniper nodded and started to scan the area for zombies. Engie took off his right glove and flicked the door with his robotic hand. Sniper nearly jumped at the very loud  _ click _ while still doing his best to cover Engie. Engie pulled the door open. "After you, mister."

Sniper grinned. "Thanks, Truckie."

The two of them headed inside the rest stop. It was dark and silent, save for the refrigerators, whose lights quietly buzzed with electricity.

"We should split up and cover more ground," Engie said.

Sniper shook his head.

"Okay, then stay with me."

Sniper stayed relatively close to Engie as they quietly roamed through the abandoned rest stop. They started next to a generic corner store chain,  _ Risers 'n' Shiners _ .

Immediately, Sniper began glancing about all the aisles, considering he was tall enough to peer out over them by a significant amount in comparison to Engie, who started looking at endcaps.

"Got any allergies, Snipie?"

"Nah."

"I found some more granola. Do you wanna pick up some coffee before we..." Engie looked up at Sniper, who had an armful of beef jerky. "...go?"

"I should've brought my backpack but I didn't."

Engie grinned at Sniper. "We're probably gonna hit more stops along the way. You don't need to pack that much."

Sniper put about half of the jerky back on the shelf.

Engie held out his shoulder bag. "You can put 'em in here."

"Are you sure? You might hurt your shoulder."

"I've carried a buncha scrap metal in this thing. I'll be fine."

Sniper put about five packets of beef jerky into Engie's shoulder bag, then put the rest back.

They spent some more time picking up supplies, like bags of coffee grounds and first aid materials, and then they left to head back to the van. Sniper covered Engie, MC3 in hand and eyes scoping the area for any zombies that may have turned up since they left. They went around the back and entered Sniper's van.

Engie took off his shoulder bag and placed it on the table. He opened it up and scattered its contents around.

"Do you know where all of this should go?" Engie asked.

"Yeah, I got it. If ya wanna take a break."

"Alrighty then."

Engie sat down at the table while Sniper started putting everything away.

While Sniper busied himself with organizing the cabinets, Engie took the time to look around Sniper's camper, soaking up the atmosphere this time. He got a better look at the photographs, and paper images as well, which were taped up, with captions taped below them.

Sniper and his parents.  _ Me n Mum n Dad _ .

Sniper and a very tiny Sir Hootsalot.  _ Found an owl on top of my camper. Didn't intend on raising him, but I guess the owl chose me. _

Sir Hootsalot sitting on top of the bed in Sniper's van.  _ That's my bed, and Hoots has stolen it. :( _

First day working for RED. A picture of mostly the ceiling, with Sniper's face sorta peeking in, looking nervous.  _ New job. Finding it hard to talk to my coworkers. Probably nerves. _

A campfire, with Engie's boots just barely sneaking into the photo. _ First time camping with a friend. Didn't know if he wanted me to take his picture so here's the campfire we started _ .

A few more pictures of various landscapes from Teufort.  _ Sawmill, Coldfront, Viaduct, Mercenary Park, Gorge, and Badlands. _

Some small papers with random shapes and lines scratched onto them.  _ Bored and anxious. Pen scratchings are pretty fun to make. Don't know why. _

And finally, a photograph of Engie playing the guitar, with the campfire just barely sneaking into the photo this time.  _ Took my closest mate camping again :) He brought his guitar and played some songs. Overall that made the trip much more calming after today. _

Engie remembered that camping trip. It actually wasn't all that long ago, when Peeker had given Sniper an extremely difficult time at work that day, and Sniper returned to the base in a furious state. Engie decided to take Sniper camping to get his mind off of work, and he brought his guitar and played some music. A few songs later and Sniper had fallen asleep under the stars.

"Everything's been packed up," Sniper said, snapping Engie out of his trance. "Are you sure you still wanna drive?"

"Yeah," he said. "C'mon."

Engie and Sniper left the camper, Sniper locking the door behind them. They walked over to the driver's side, and Engie got in the driver's seat, and then Sniper walked around the front and into the passenger's side. They buckled in.

Engie started the van, shifted it into gear, and drove out of the rest stop.

Sniper then realized how tired he was. He sank into the chair, already beginning to slouch. He sorta turned so he could lean against the back of the chair and rest his head there. Silently, he watched Engie drive. Sniper could trust him. He knew what he was doing. Every turn was super smooth.

Tipping his hat down to cover his eyes, Sniper eventually fell asleep.


	2. Swiftly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **swiftly** _adv._ moving with great speed; fast

Sniper awoke as the van stopped, and Engie shut off the engine. Sniper was dazed at first, but the more he woke up, the more he realized that he had subconsciously leaned into Engie's side in his sleep. His head rested on Engie's leg.

"W-wha... ah, I'm sorry. I fell asleep." Swiftly, Sniper sat up, retrieving the hat that had fallen from his head, and the aviators that had fallen from his face. "This is embarrassing."

"Nah, you're alright, Snipie," Engie smiled, giving Sniper a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You looked pretty tired."

Sniper yawned as he put his hat and aviators on. Then he got a good look at his surroundings.

Trees. Gravel roads and gravel lots, each with a picnic table and a firepit.

"Is this..." Sniper said.

"A campground," Engie said, grinning.

Sniper looked around again, beaming as he gazed about nature's playground.

"It's beautiful," Sniper whispered. "Thank you, Truckie."

"Ah, it was nothin'. I thought it'd be the best spot to set up shelter for now." Engie leaned towards Sniper. "Could you give me my toolbox and then cover me?"

"Yeah," Sniper peered underneath the passenger's seat, and found the toolbox. He pulled it out from underneath the seat, and then, while struggling to do so, picked up the toolbox and gave it to Engie.

"I was just gonna say it's heavy," Engie said.

"What do you have packed in here, anyway?"

"Well, everything we need to set up camp, I guess."

"Setting up a sentry?"

" _ Two _ sentries, actually. I only have limits on how many sentries I can set up during matches."

"Makes sense." Sniper grabbed his MC3. "I'm ready."

"Alright."

Engie and Sniper slid out of the van on the passenger's side and headed to the front. Engie set down his toolbox, opened it, and took out a small metal box. He set the box down a few feet away from the passenger-side corner of the van. He walked over to the back side of the camper on the driver's side and set down the other box.

Sniper unlocked the van. "Will the sentries be okay?"

"Yeah," Engie replied. "They assemble themselves, and I don't think zombie bites will break these things down."

As if on cue, the box opened to reveal what appeared to be a folded-up sentry, already at level 3. It began unfolding and assembling itself.

Sniper's jaw slacked a bit, and slight surprise could be detected from behind his glasses.

Engie noticed Sniper's amazement.

"You haven't seen my sentries bein' set up yet?"

"I thought you could just build really fast."

"Well, I guess, kinda."

Sniper watched as the sentry set itself up. The slow movement and the quiet whirring of the automatic assembly was mesmerizing. Sniper relaxed into some kind of bliss from watching. He was surprisingly calmed by it. By the time it had finished assembling, his gaze had softened.

Engie tapped his shoulder, causing him to reel a little. Sniper's head snapped to meet Engie's gaze before realizing that he was staring into Engie's goggles, probably making him uncomfortable. He quickly switched to looking directly above Engie's head.

"Wanna head in?"

"Yeah."

Sniper held the door open for Engie, who entered the camper. Sniper followed and closed the door behind him, promptly locking it after.

"I'm gonna take a nap," Sniper said. "Help yourself to whatever's in the camper; I'm not hungry."

Engie confusedly watched as Sniper took off his vest and sweater while walking over to the bed, revealing a white t-shirt. Sniper tossed his sweater and vest onto the foot of the bed before climbing up, tossing his shoes beneath him, getting under the covers, and then laying down and resting his head on the pillow.

No visible breathing at first, then a heavy sigh, and finally slow and steady breaths. Sniper had fallen asleep.

Engie snuck over to the bed and removed Sniper's hat and glasses, setting them on the shelf next to the foot of the bed.

Engie had a bullet-point list of thoughts going through his head: 1) Sniper must've been exhausted from having to shift abruptly to the loss of his owl and the loss of a secure shelter, both of which he had familiarized himself with for five years, 2) Sniper got no sleep last night and had a lot of sleep to catch up on, 3) Sniper is snoring now and he's an even bigger dork when asleep, and 4) ...oh no...

Sniper, his career-long best friend, was cute. And Engie couldn't handle it. He'd never felt that way for anyone before. He usually held various close friendships with people, and that was enough for him. But to fall in love with someone... it was unfamiliar to him, and yet here he was.

He didn't even know how Sniper would react if he were to tell him, especially considering that Sniper was already overwhelmed and had a lot going on.

Engie decided he would sleep on it for a few nights and then maybe tell him.

But for now, Engie went to the cabinets to figure out what he could fix for dinner, when he heard mumbling from under the bedsheets.

Sniper was a sleep-talker. He had been since after his last big mission. Since Medic forcefully dragged him away from his parents, out of Heaven, and back into the land of the living. Since he would live to see another day, even though he didn't see half a day but felt absent of time in the meantime. Since he watched as Spy said some would-be last words to Scout's passing corpse. Sniper still couldn't quite process it. He had been pulled out of his little holiday to get back to work, and wasn't wearing clothes as he watched Scout die and then live again. Sniper didn't know he talked in his sleep. All he knew was that he had been having more vivid dreams.

Sniper had fallen asleep and was mumbling incoherent mumblings. Engie grinned to himself as he investigated the camper's food inventory.

There wasn't much; Sniper opted out of keeping perishables in his camper, though there was some freeze-dried camping spaghetti and a jug of water, and so Engie decided that it would suffice. He scoured the cabinets for a kettle, found one, filled it with water, and put it on the stove of the kitchenette. He turned on the stove and waited for it to boil.

A sharp inhale from the bed and Sniper was awake, not even fifteen minutes after he had fallen asleep. He rolled over to face Engie.

"Mornin'," he said.

"Short nap?"

"Yeah, didn't work out too well..." Sniper sighed, messing up his hair more than it already had been. "Makin' yourself spaghetti?"

"Well, yeah, I'm preppin' spaghetti, but you looked pretty tired so I thought I'd make some for you, too."

"You didn't have to," Sniper sat up, reaching for his sweater. "I appreciate it, though."

Sniper slipped on his sweater and got down from the bed. "Sorry, it's not the same as using real ingredients."

"It's okay. Sauce would probably go bad after a while, anyways."

"Only once it's opened, right?"

"Yeah. You don't need the whole jar for two or three helpings of spaghetti anyways."

Sniper nodded, sitting at the small table. He mindlessly stared at the opposite end of the table, exhaustion and fear showing itself upon his face.

Engie looked at him worryingly, but then remembered his task when the kettle started whistling. He removed the kettle from the stove, turned the stove off, and then opened the spaghetti packages and carefully filled them with water. He closed the packages and set a timer for five minutes. Then he sat down at the table across from Sniper.

"Are you alright?"

"Sleep didn't help."

"Sorry."

More silence. Sniper put his head down on the table, running his fingers through his hair.

"I'm... 'm bloody ridiculous, Truckie. You put up with a lot by bein' with me, and I just... I don't want you to worry about me."

"Did you have a nightmare, Slim?"

Sniper didn't answer, so Engie gently raised Sniper's head by the chin.

The solemn face of a statue.

"Something must've startled ya, so what was it?"

"I know it ain't real, but..." Sniper shook his head. "Nevermind."

The timer went off.

Engineer gently ruffled Sniper's hair before getting up to turn off the timer. He opened the packets and put them on the table.

"Do you know where the silverware is?" Engie asked.

"Don't worry about it," Sniper said, getting up from the table. He opened one of the kitchenette drawers and grabbed a couple of forks before closing it. He sat down at the table once more and handed one of the forks to Engie.

"Thanks."

Sniper nodded. "Thank  _ you _ ."

"It's really nothing, don't worry about it."

They finished their spaghetti in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be adding zombies shortly, don't worry! This is the first fic that I've written that has zombies in it, so I'm still trying to work out how to write them.


	3. Spycrab

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **spycrab**  
>  _v._ to walk while crouching, looking at the sky, and holding a disguise kit, in a manner that resembles a crab  
>  _n._ a species of crab that has emerged as a result of this phenomena

That night, Sniper let Engie use his bed to make up for everything that Engie had given him. It was okay, because Sniper had fallen asleep on the couch easily, as he had numerous times before.

But it didn't last long, as the telltale sound of a sentry firing bullets and a zombie growling in agony had awoken Sniper so abruptly that he felt compelled to run outside with his kukri, ready to fight off any other zombies.

There were none. That was just a stray zombie. And the sentry had shot it to death.

Sniper was over it. He lost every last bit of tolerance for the situation. Hollering at the top of his lungs, he furiously picked up stones from the ground and threw them at the trees, at the ground, at the thin air...

...and at Peeker, on accident.

Peeker's cloak stopped working as soon as Sniper hat hit his watch with the stone.

Bawling, Sniper tackled Peeker to the ground, tightly gripping his tie with one hand and pinning him down with the other.

"You! You've messed up my ability to do my job! You've made it more frustrating with each kill and more trying with each waking work day!"

Engie drowsily stepped out of the camper at the commotion, but then snapped to attention when he noticed Sniper almost completely ready to beat the living crap out of Peeker.

Immediately, Engie ran over and firmly pulled Sniper away from Peeker.

"That's enough, Sniper. Go inside and sleep on your own bed."   


"But Truckie--"

"Slim. Go to bed."

Sniper glared at Peeker. "You spycrabbin' maniac."

"Sniper!"

Sniper stared at Engie, but then sighed and looked away. "Sorry, Truckie. Peeker."

Engie reached up to ruffle Sniper's hair, "Go get some real sleep, okay?"

Sniper nodded, and then headed inside, taking his kukri with him. Engie and Peeker remained.

"Sorry, I was sneaking past while Sniper was busy having the outrage of a wild animal," Peeker explained.

Something about the way Peeker talked about Sniper...

"He might've been stressed out, but he's not an animal."

"You'd be quite surprised, Engineer. He gets feisty when his nest is disturbed, like a little angry bird."

Engie noticed that Peeker's watch was broken.

"Listen. You don't have your watch anymore, so you're basically a walkin' snack for those zombies out there. Do you want to survive?"

Peeker frowned. "I did not expect you to defend that barbaric bushman."

"He ain't barbaric. You're just a tryhard and an ass, stressing him out like that. Now do you want shelter or not?"

"Fine. I will take the van over whatever gross bugs lurk in the woods."

"By the way, whatever excuse you have for pushing Sniper too hard at work, it better be a damn good one."

"I was just doing my job. And he was learning lessons about his. Don't want to get stabbed? Find a different far-away location from which to shoot people."

"Get in the camper." Engie's tone indicated that Peeker's reason was a pretty shitty one.

"Alright."

Engie and Peeker entered the camper. Peeker sat down on the couch.

"I suppose this isn't as bad as I imagined. Scoper does not maintain his camper. He just uses it for storage."

Engie noticed that Sniper had finally slept in his own bed, or at least was trying to. His breathing was shaky, as if he had just been crying again and was now trying not to. He held the pillow to cover his head, his hands gripping its plushness so tightly that his knuckles were pale.

"Slim?" Engie walked over to Sniper's bed. "Slim, don't hold onto that pillow so firmly. You're gonna hurt yourself."

Engie gently tugged the pillow, but it didn't budge. Sniper really didn't want to let go of the pillow.

"I'll be back, okay? But then you gotta tell me why you're being like this."

Sniper whined in response.

Engie decided that he would try talking to Sniper again later. In the meantime, he had to figure out where Peeker was going to sleep. He remembered that the sofa folded out to a bed. Maybe Sniper wanted Engie to be comfy but was too lazy to fold out the sofa.

"Peeker, could you get up for a minute?"

"Of course."

Engie folded out the sofa as Sniper had shown him. "Here. Make yourself comfy. It's probably gonna be a long night."

Peeker nodded, sitting back down. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Engie walked back over to the loft-esque bed. Sniper still covered his head with the pillow, although he didn't hold onto it so tightly.

Once again, Engie gently tugged at the pillow. While not letting go of the pillow, Sniper peered out from underneath. He hummed in acknowledgement, though it sounded more like a tired moan.

"Scoot over, I'm staying up here with you tonight."

Sniper slunk back under the pillow and moved all the way to the side of the bed furthest from Engie.

Engie got up onto the bed and under the covers. Sniper tried moving further away, but a back rub was enough to let him know that it was okay.

Slowly, Sniper emerged from under the pillow. A tired yet mildly concerned face looked up at Engie. His breathing became shallow.

"Slim, what's wrong?" Engie whispered.

"I hurt Peeker," Sniper murmured. "I was upset about how he riled me up at work and I was upset about the zombie. I didn't know he was gonna be there but I was just so angry and I--"

"Shh..." Engie continued rubbing Sniper's back. "Work is over. You don't need to worry about it anymore."

"He's in the van, isn't he?"

Engie nodded. "He's teaming up with us. The more people we work with, the safer we'll be. I thought about that while we broke into the rest stop today. His help would be appreciated."

Sniper hummed. His breathing did not even out, though.

"Hey, don't go panicking on me, okay? We're safe in here--"

"Truckie, you didn't lock the camper."

"What?"

"I didn't hear the lock click. You didn't lock the camper."

Sniper crawled out from under the bedsheets, half-leaping over Engie, descending from the bed. He grabbed his kukri and slowly approached the door. Engie soon followed, pistol in hand.

Sniper beat the door with his fist. A monstrous growl responded.

"Bugger... We'll have to be quick about this. Cover me, Truckie."

Nodding, Engie disabled the safety on his pistol, then stood cautiously, ready to fire.

With one swift move, Sniper opened the door, immediately noticed the zombie and kicked it in the head, then closed and locked the door just before hearing the sentry beeping and firing bullets, a zombie screaming before its head was blown to pieces.

Sniper sighed. "Should be alright now."

Engie chuckled a little. "Your first zombie?"

Sniper froze, glancing at Engie. A small grin appeared on his face, but he didn't say anything else. He set his kukri back in its little space, then crawled under the bedsheets. Engie followed him, laying down beside him.

"So... Are you two a couple at last?" Peeker asked.

"Good night, Peeker," Sniper deadpanned.

" _ Bonne nuit _ ," Peeker replied.


	4. Kick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **kick** _v._ to strike with the foot

That morning, Sniper felt especially chilly. Looking out the window, he noticed the fog outside. In addition, it was just before sunrise, so it was still fairly dark out.

Last night's events confused Sniper. He knew that the zombie made him mad, Peeker made him angry, and overall he was just upset. He regretted tackling Peeker and he regretted upsetting Engie. Kicking the zombie away from his camper, though? No regrets.

Sniper gazed further outside the window, to see if he could spot the firepit from where he lay.

He couldn't even see the trees.

You can't see that far when the fog is thick.

Sighing, Sniper shifted a little to try and sit up. It was then that he realized that Engie had snuggled right up to him. His firm but kind arms wrapped around Sniper.

This only made Sniper more confused.

"Something's missing," he accidentally whispered aloud.

Engie stirred, causing Sniper to freeze in his place.

"What's missing?" Engie murmured

"Nothing..."

Sniper reached over Engie to pick up his alarm clock. He looked at the time. 4am. Annoyed, he set the alarm clock back down and, now pried from Engie's arms, burrowed under the sheets and curled up into a ball.

"Sniper, you're shivering. C'mere."

Engie reached over to hold Sniper close, but Sniper backed away, starting to sit up.

"Sniper? What's wrong?"

"I don't know. A lot's going on."

Engie nodded. "I get that. How about we stay here for a few days and take it easy?"

Sniper nodded. "Thanks."

"Anytime. Now go back to sleep."

"...Alright."

Sniper got back under the covers. He let Engie hold him close, and eventually his shivering subsided, and he went back to sleep.

:/~/:

When Sniper awoke again, he was alone and shivering. He heard sizzling and hushed chatter.

"What was he doing under your workbench?" Peeker asked.

"I don't know, though I assumed he was hiding from Soldier that day. You could tell from the shouting."

Wordlessly, Sniper stretched, still laying down, and then lay on the bed with his arms and legs sprawled across the tiny mattress. He turned his head to look at Engie and Peeker.

"Mornin'," Sniper mumbled.

"Hey, Sniper. Sorry for waking you up."

"It's okay, you didn't wake me up."

Squinting to adjust to the light, Sniper watched as Engie turned off the stove and started serving scrambled eggs onto some plates. He was so distracted watching Engie being content that he didn't even hear Engie's question.

"Slim?"

"W-what?"

"How'd you sleep?"

"Well, I woke up earlier this morning, but I feel less tired than I did yesterday, so I guess better? How about you?"

"I slept alright. I'm surprised you can sleep in your camper at night. It's freezing!"

"I'm used to it during the summer, but I usually move my camper to the garage once it gets cold enough."

Sniper got down from the bed, retrieving a different sweater from one of the drawers. Slipping it on, he walked over to the table and sat down. He gazed out the window.

The fog was gone. The sun shined into the camper. He could see outside quite clearly. But there was still something that he felt that he couldn't quite lay a finger on. Was it still his parents? Sniper thought he had grieved, so that couldn't be it. Was it the stress from the zombies? Well, that was there, but that wasn't it either.

Something about Engie? Maybe, but he chose to ignore it. He moved onto a different thought.

"Sorry about last night, Peeker. I've been upset about a lot of things lately and last night finally made me snap."

Peeker nodded. "I accept your apology. I, too, apologize for the way I behaved at work."

"It's okay. You were just doing your job. I just wanted to do mine."

"Perhaps we can be on good terms with each other from now on?"

"Yeah."

Peeker picked up a coffee cup with a constellation on it. He sipped some coffee from it before continuing. "That zombie kick was very impressive, if I might add."

"Thanks."

Engie set down the plates on the table. Peeker got up from the couch to pick up his plate, then sat down again.

"Cutlery?"

"Wha- oh,  _ cutlery _ . That's a big fancy word, mate."

Sniper started to get up, but Engie stopped him.

"Truckie-"

"I got it."

Engie grabbed forks and passed them around before sitting at the table across from Sniper.

That's when Engie noticed Sniper's hands. They were firm, but still very gentle. Small scars littered them, presumably from letting Hoots perch on his hands without wearing any falconry gloves or something similar. His right thumb had a bruise from it getting stuck in the reload compartment. His left hand had mild tan lines on them from the glove, and his wrist had an impression mark from the watch. He had very knuckly hands, from a habit of cracking his knuckles loudly, as well as general wear and tear and repair.

"Did you want extra?" Sniper asked, snapping Engie out of his trance and gesturing to his breakfast with a fork.

"Nope, it's okay. That's for you. Sorry, I probably made you think I was staring at your food or something."

"...okay."

Sniper retracted one of his arms into the torso of his sweater, while still leaving his other arm free to allow him to eat breakfast. Peeker watched him with discomfort, while Engie observed with curiosity.

"What're you doing with your sleeve, Sniper?"

"Cold."

"Huh, alrighty then."

Sniper sighed. He looked at the small knitted nest that sat on one of the small shelves next to the couch. He knew that Hoots was gone, but he still clicked his tongue a few times and held out his hand, as if to call him over. Out of a habit for the dead, the habit that hadn't died yet.

"Slim?"

"I'm sorry, I just..." Sniper trailed off, absentmindedly prodding his eggs with the fork, before ultimately dropping it, putting his hidden arm back through the sleeve, and making his way outside the van.

Outside, two zombie corpses had become buffets for flies and other forces of decomposition. They began to reek badly of rotting flesh, more so than before they were shot up by the sentry.

Sniper did not sit down here because of the smell. Instead, he walked around to the front of the van, got in the passenger's side of the vehicle, and opened the window a smidge. He let the sun warm him up as it passed through the window, but the chill air breaking in through the crack kept him awake.

Now was his time to think. Or zone out. Or maybe both. But there was too much to think about.

Ever since his parents passed, he didn't take the time to really  _ truly _ lament. He soon realized that the same had happened when he lost Hoots. No time to mourn. No time to reflect on any memories. He simply acted as if it never happened. Set aside his feelings to get things done, because he was the sniper and that's what he had to do.

He rubbed his eyes when he realized that his face was tear-streaked again, and so soon, too. Why was he crying so much? He didn't think he had  _ that _ much to release, but he couldn't bottle it up anymore.

Sniper let himself release his feelings. He sobbed hard. Tears flowed freely, almost akin to a rainstorm, and he curled up in the seat of the van, massaging his scalp with one hand and covering his face with the other. At some point, he barely composed himself enough to close the window before going back to crying.

At the same time, Engie was back in the van, debating whether or not he should bring Sniper's breakfast out to him, when he heard a knock at the door. Both he and Peeker looked in the direction of the knocking.

Engie maneuvered his way to the door and opened it.

It was Spy and Scout.

"Hey, Spy. Scout. Need anything?"

"We're looking for shelter. Do you have any room left?" Spy asked.

"Sniper may have some spare sleeping bags lying around, but other than that, space is kinda tight right now."

Spy glanced inside the camper while Peeker glanced out.

"Hello, Peeker."

"You stabbed my Scoper."

"...If you know what is best, you will put our arguments aside for the sake of the apocalypse."

"...Fine."

Spy and Scout entered the van as Engie moved into the kitchen. He picked up Sniper's plate.

"Did you fellas have breakfast yet?"

"We did, thank you," Spy replied. "Scout tried convincing me that candy and Bonk! was a sufficient breakfast. I told him no."

"Were either of you bitten?"

"We didn't even run into any!" Scout whined. "I was gonna walk in here ready to flex some zombie kills, but  _ nooooo _ !"

Spy rolled his eyes.

Engie chuckled. "Alright. I'm gonna bring this plate out to Sniper. Y'all behave yourselves, now. I'm not Sniper, but I know I'd go mad if people got in a fight and broke my camper on accident."

"I got it, Hardhat," Scout replied. "Nothin' to worry about."

Engie nodded, then slipped out of the camper. It was not as cold as it was when he first woke up that morning. In fact, it was a little warm.

Sniper could not easily be seen from the camper, so Engie rounded the camper, hoping that Sniper didn't get into any trouble.

Soft sobs reached earshot as Engie moved closer to the passenger side of the van. Engie now recognized those cries as Sniper's and immediately but carefully opened the door and crawled into the seat, putting Sniper's barely-touched plate on the dashboard. He gently closed the door behind him, noticing that Sniper was laying down in the driver's seat.

"...M-mum... Dad..." Sniper whimpered like a lost child. He didn't even notice that Engie had entered the van.

"Aw, Sniper..." Engie reached out and pulled Sniper into a close embrace.

Immediately, Sniper snuggled up to Engie, sobbing into his shoulder and holding onto him like it was the end of the world. Engie ran his fingers through Sniper's hair, occasionally shushing him quietly and murmuring "It's alright."

When Sniper finally calmed down enough to ease off of crying, he rested all of his weight on Engie. He gently played with his own fingers, tangling and weaving them. Engie was familiar with this motion and let him be.

"I'm sorry you found me like this, Truckie," Sniper mumbled.

"Don't be sorry. I'm worried about you."

"I appreciate it lots, Truckie."

"No problem. Is there anything else I can do?"

Sniper nodded.

"Please don't get killed by a sniper," he said, "or be fed to zombies."

Engie smiled, gently wiping away the remains of Sniper's tears.

"Sure, I can do that."

"Thanks."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last time Sniper cries for a while now, I promise :)


End file.
